Can the One-Year Separation Period Be Waived for Mutual Divorce in India?

Most people know that the 6-month cooling-off period between the First and Second Motion in a mutual divorce can be waived by the court in appropriate cases — the Supreme Court confirmed this in Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur (2017). However, a less discussed but equally important question is whether the one-year minimum separation period required before filing the mutual divorce petition can itself be waived or relaxed. A December 2025 Delhi High Court judgment has opened a cautious door to this question.

The Standard Position — One Year is Mandatory

Section 13B(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 states clearly that a petition for mutual consent divorce may be presented by both parties to a marriage if they have been living separately for a period of one year or more. The legislative intent was to ensure that couples do not file for divorce impulsively and have adequate time apart before taking the irreversible step.

For decades, courts treated this one-year requirement as an absolute mandatory pre-condition that could not be waived, distinguished from the 6-month cooling-off period which the Supreme Court confirmed was directory and not mandatory in Amardeep Singh (2017).

The December 2025 Delhi High Court Judgment

In December 2025, the Delhi High Court — in a case involving a couple with an extremely short marriage and no cohabitation after the first few weeks — held that the one-year period under Section 13B(1) should be treated as a guideline rather than an absolute bar in exceptional circumstances. The court reasoned that:

• The purpose of the one-year period is to ensure the marriage has actually broken down irretrievably — not merely as an arbitrary waiting period
• Where it is abundantly clear from all facts and circumstances that the marriage has completely and irretrievably broken down with no possibility of reconciliation, insisting on one year of formal separation may cause unnecessary hardship
• The court has inherent power under the constitutional mandate of Articles 14 and 21 to prevent an unjust outcome
• In the specific facts of that case, the parties had separated within weeks of marriage, there was no cohabitation, no children, no joint assets, and both parties had moved on entirely with their lives

When Might This Exception Apply?

Based on the reasoning in the December 2025 judgment, the following fact patterns may potentially support an application for waiver of the one-year period — though each case will be decided on its specific merits:

• Marriage was very short — weeks or a few months — with virtually no cohabitation
• Both parties are in agreement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down
• There are no children from the marriage
• There are no major joint financial entanglements or disputed assets
• Insisting on one year would cause demonstrable and exceptional hardship — for example, one party cannot remarry for visa or immigration purposes, or there is a pending foreign proceeding that requires the Indian divorce to proceed urgently
• There is clear evidence that the parties have not functioned as husband and wife since the very beginning of the marriage or since very shortly after

How This Differs from the 6-Month Cooling-Off Waiver

Practical Implications — What You Should Do

If you have been married for less than one year and wish to file for mutual divorce, the options are:

• Option 1 — Wait: Complete the one-year separation period and then file. This is the safest, most predictable approach.
• Option 2 — Apply to High Court: If exceptional hardship can be demonstrated, apply to the High Court for permission to file before completing one year. This is complex, requires strong factual justification, and the outcome is uncertain.
• Option 3 — File in jurisdiction where one year has been completed: In some cases where one party has been residing separately since near the beginning of the marriage, it may be possible to establish that the effective separation has already exceeded one year even if the formal marriage has not.

What About the Supreme Court?

As of June 2026, the Supreme Court of India has not yet directly ruled on whether the one-year period under Section 13B(1) is mandatory or directory. The Amardeep Singh (2017) judgment dealt specifically with the 6-month cooling-off period under Section 13B(2) and did not address the one-year requirement. The December 2025 Delhi High Court judgment represents an important but as yet unconfirmed development in the law. Courts in other High Courts may or may not follow this reasoning.

Watch for further developments in this area of law — if the Supreme Court takes up the question, it will definitively settle whether the one-year period can be waived in appropriate cases across all High Courts and Family Courts in India.